The present invention relates to baker's racks for trays and pans, and more particularly to racks in which the vertical spacing between tray and pan support members can be varied.
In a typical baker's rack, members for supporting the trays and pans are affixed to vertical supports and project inwardly from two sides in opposition to each other. The vertical spacing between these support members is typically two inches and non-variable. Additionally, the horizontal support flange of each support member also extends inwardly by typically two inches along the entire depth of the rack.
In the prior art the support members are either permanently affixed to the vertical supports by welding or rivits (U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,600,298 or 2,622,740), or are removably mountable on the vertical supports.
When a baker wishes to prepare an item which is taller than the spacing permitted between the support members of a typical rack, he must either locate the item inwardly from the sides of the tray before inserting the tray in the rack, or remove a sufficient number of the support members from the rack above the location in the rack which he has selected for placement of the tray. If he fails to do either of these, the item on the tray may be damaged by the inwardly extending support members above the selected location in the rack for the tray.
Each of the above-outlined approaches for use of the standard baker's rack for items of greater height than the spacing between tray support members are undesirable. The locating of the item inwardly from the sides of the tray results in an extra step and the unavailability of at least a 2 inch strip along each side of the tray. If the tray is a standard 16 inch wide tray, 25% of the surface of the tray is unuseable. If the baker happens to own racks which have removeable support members, he may remove them and avoid the restriction as to the available surface area of each tray, however, the removeable support members are typically not of a standard size or design from rack to rack, they tend to get lost, and often get bent so that they are no longer useable.
What is needed is a baker's rack which has means for tilting and retaining support members in a position tilted back toward the vertical supports without removing the support members from the rack. The present invention provides such a baker's rack.